A Fracking Rule Reprieve

Next year comes the federal deluge.

June 29, 2012 6:56 p.m. ET

The oil and gas industry is celebrating last week's news that the Interior Department is suspending its proposing rules for hydraulic fracturing on public lands. The better way to view this is as the calm before next year's federal regulatory surge.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued the new draft fracking rules in May, elbowing in on turf long occupied by the 50 states. The regulations, covering everything from disclosure of drilling chemicals to well integrity, are redundant. Drillers on federal lands are already...